The Goodspeed Opera House has welcomed home its most famous orphan. In a new promotional video for the 50th anniversary production of Annie, Laiken Jules arrives in full costume, climbs the front steps beneath the words “50 years later….”, runs up the grand staircase and walks the center aisle of the empty theater, and delivers the line every Annie fan knows by heart: “I think I’m gonna like it here.”
Watch the original video on Instagram.
It is a homecoming fifty years in the making. Annie had its world premiere on that same stage on August 10, 1976, before transferring to Broadway and becoming one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Jules, the 10-year-old viral TikTok singer stepping into the title role, was introduced at Goodspeed’s anniversary celebration on August 10, exactly fifty years to the day after that first performance, alongside Scotty, the shelter dog playing Sandy.
The production runs October 30 through December 27 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, directed by Jenn Thompson. Tickets are on sale now at Goodspeed.org, and the theater says they are selling fast. Families can also circle November 4 through 8, when Family Nights offer $15 tickets for kids ages 8 to 18 with each adult ticket, with the cast signing autographs after the November 7 performance.
Fifty years after she first won over audiences in East Haddam, the sun is about to come out again, right where it rose the first time.